A BODY-BUILDER involved in a takings snatch at the Deighton Carnival has been locked up for 18 months.

Robert Peel, his two daughters and a female assistant were shutting up their mobile catering van at the end of the summer fair in June when 20-year-old David Booth and another man pushed their way into the vehicle.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the unknown accomplice grabbed a bag containing the day’s takings, which were estimated to be more than £1,000.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson described how Mr Peel became involved in a struggle with Booth.

Some of the women also became involved, but Booth eventually broke free and ran off with his accomplice.

The court heard that one of the women suffered pain to her jaw and another was scalded on her arm and legs by hot oil from a tap which had been knocked open during the incident.

Booth, of City Road, Sheffield, was on licence at the time of the cash snatch and last month he pleaded guilty to the robbery charge.

He told police he was desperate for money and had spent some of the cash when he got back to Sheffield.

Barrister Alan Taylor said his client regretted that the women had been involved in the incident and he wished to apologise to the victims.

Judge Roger Scott was told that Booth had been recalled to custody to complete a previous jail term for affray and he hit out at the fact that robbery sentence would have to run alongside.

“'It really ought to be consecutive to the sentence you are currently serving, but for reasons I have never understood, and no judge in the United Kingdom understands, I’m prevented from giving you a proper sentence,”' said the judge.

“'I'm prevented by law from sentencing you in that way.”

The judge said Booth could expect to be released from a young offender institution in April next year.